


Sticky

by athousandordinarylemons



Category: Sally Face (Video Games)
Genre: Banter, Best Friends, Dialogue Heavy, Fluff, Gen, Platonic Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 09:46:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17119022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/athousandordinarylemons/pseuds/athousandordinarylemons
Summary: Larry is an mess, Sal loves him anyway.Honestly this can be read platonic OR shippy, whatever boats yr float.





	Sticky

"Sally face."

...

"Sal. Earth to Sally face, fuckin' mayday, man."

"Mmn...mayday? You in a plane crash, dude?"

"Ohhh shit, you're still asleep. Sorry dude. But uh. Yeah it's kind of an emergency."

\---

It was hard not to just burst into the Johnsons' basement apartment in the wee hours of the morning when it came to a distress call from Larry. Equipped with the Gearboy for potential confrontation and ready to protect his best bro, Sal had let himself in with the spare key he'd been given after months of waking Lisa up from the precious little sleep she could get between maintenance calls.

Sal was as quiet as possible when he crept in, keeping an eye out for Lisa in case she did somehow realize through that peculiar mom-based sixth-sense that Sal had come to visit and woke up regardless. He couldn't hear any of the usual commotion that accompanied the more vitriolic spirits, or even someone that decided to burgle the basement. He refused to assume the worst, listening to the silence. Maybe Larry had gone back to sleep? Well, then Sal wouldd just make himself at home on the couch in the guy's room or something and grouse at Larry in the morning. Like, the actual morning, not 4-in-the-morning.

The sound of shuffling and zombie-groans from Larry's room hurried Sal on his way.

"Lar? Come on man, show yourself," Sal hissed into the dark of the bedroom as soon as he'd closed it behind him, only to jump when a light was clicked on overhead, momentarily dazzling him. He had to bite down on the urge to yelp at the startle.

"Christ, Larry! What-" Sal didn't need to finish that thought when he actually parsed what he was seeing: His best friend, staring at him with the most pitiful expression imaginable, from the saddest pout to the biggest puppy eyes he could muster, and his hair wadded up around ear level, considerably more rat's nest-like than the rest of his long brown locks.

"...Larry."

"Sal-"

"Larry did you fall asleep with _gum in your mouth?_ "

"Saaaal come on, you gotta help me," Larry whined, trying to pull apart the veritably glued strands and only really succeeding in making his situation worse. Sal just shook his head and left the room.

When he returned, it was with a jar of peanut butter tucked under his arm, a spoon, and a comb from the bathroom.

"You owe me big for this," Sal stated as he sat down on at the foot of Larry's bed. They both knew damn well Sal wouldn't actually collect on any attempt by Larry to pay him back.

With a bit of rearrangement and Sal settling cross-legged beside him, Larry moped with his chin on his knees as Sally smeared peanut butter around the worst of the tangles, using the spoon to scoop a blob over the glimpse of pale pink he could see wound up in Larry's hair.

"Wow, dude. How are you even gonna survive college without me?" Sally snorted as he finally started working strands apart to free them from the chewed gum.

"Easy," Larry replied, then winced at a yank that Sal promptly apologized for. "I'm gonna sneak you in with my luggage when I go. Like those kids you hear about that smuggle dogs into pet-free dorms. You'll be my emotional support bro."

Sal laughed and perched his chin briefly on Larry's shoulder, his good eye squinted a little bit with the smile beneath his prosthetic. "If you say so."

The silence resumed as Sally continued to work the gum out of Larry's hair, interrupted by the occasional 'ow', until finally he had a gooey wad of it collected in a tissue. He dragged the comb all the way through to the ends a few times just to be sure, then pushed lightly on Larry's shoulder to get him moving. "Alright, go wash your hair if you don't want to smell like the worst lunch."

It was long since agreed that they wouldn't be talking about the _actual_ worst possible lunch ever again, if they could possibly help it.

Sal settled onto the toilet lid with his hands tucked into the pockets of his hoodie while Larry washed his hair in the bathroom sink, keeping an eye in the door in case they did manage to accidentally wake up Lisa before sunrise; she deserved to sleep in for once and, barring any actual emergencies, they were determined to let that happen.

"We good?" Sal asked when Larry finally grabbed for a towel to squeeze the water out of his hair.

"Yeah, looks like. Thanks dude, I couldn't get a good angle on it and I didn't wanna wake up my mom, y'know?" Larry at least had the grace to look sheepish about it.

"Yeah, I get it," Sal replies with a put-upon sigh, just to razz Larry a little bit. "I'm not saying I'm judging you for it or anything, but I bet Ash totally will when I tell her."

Larry draped himself over Sally's shoulders, chin on top of his head. "Cold, dude," he said as Sal's hands came up to rest on Larry's forearms.

"Oh yeah, the coldest. No remorse. And I'm taking over your bed until we have to actually be awake in the morning."

"Nooooo- I hope you can tell that's sarcastic because I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be mad about this," Larry pointed out as they headed back to his room. He waited for Sal to remove his prosthetic and crawl into bed before turning the light out and following suit, sprawling out in every bit of space Sal wasn't occupying.

Lisa heard twin groans when she knocked on the door an hour later. School, she said, waits for no man, no matter how late they had stayed up.

**Author's Note:**

> Dedicated to the Sanity's Fall discord server and all these squishy lil Gen Zs I'm surrounded by.


End file.
